Defending and three-time world surfing champion Mick Fanning has won the final of the RipCurl Pro at Bells Beach, beating Taj Burrow in an all-Australian final.

The 32-year-old has now won at Bells three times, coming first with a score of 16.83 to Burrow’s 13.46. Fanning won his first tour title as a wildcard at Bells back in 2001.

Following a slow start with dropping swell, Fanning caught two waves which earned him a solid 8 - 8.83 a piece. In a tense finish, Burrow replied with a high score of 9.63, but was unable to find another wave of 7.2 that he needed to win.

Earlier in the day, Fanning beat Australian Julian Wilson in the semi-final, recording 18.20, the highest two-wave score of the competition.

In the other semi-final West Australian Burrow, who won the 2007 Rip Curl Pro at Bells, beat young Hawaiian sensation John John Florence 14.43 to 13.43. In earlier rounds Florence had twice beaten 11-time world champion Kelly Slater also scoring the only perfect 10 wave of the competition.

The semi-finals and final were contested at nearby Winkipop after conditions deteriorated in the Bells bowl.

After a slow start to his world title defence, Fanning has moved to third in the world title race behind Brazilian Gabriel Medina and Australian Joel Parkinson after three of 11 events.

Eleven-time world champion Kelly Slater, defending Bells title-holder Adriano de Souza from Brazil and Parkinson were all eliminated in the quarter-finals on Wednesday.

"That last nine minutes was so nerve-wracking," said Fanning.

"I went for waves thinking they were going to be good and they weren't.

"Then I turned around and saw Taj on one and thought 'oh no, what's he going to do?' And then it didn't work out for him.

"I'm just so happy."

Fanning said Bells had always been a special event for him.

"The first ever trip away I did was down here back when I was 15 or 16," he said.

" .. I've been coming here every year.

"This is probably the only thing I know about Easter, coming here."

The Queenslander's world title defence is now right back on track after disappointing performances at the season-opening events on the Gold Coast and Margaret River.

"Those first two events I didn't really hit the reset button hard enough," he said.

"I think I got halfway there but not really."

In the Rip Curl Women's Pro held earlier in the day, Hawaiian surfer and world number one Carissa Moore successfully defended her Bells title with a win over Australian Tyler Wright.